Etymology

imperative

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Today it means: Essential; crucial; extremely important. Full definition →

Latin imperātīvus ← Proto-Italic *paro- ← Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*perh₃-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pr̥h₃o-
  7. Proto-Italic*paro-
  8. Latinparō
  9. Latinimperō
  10. Latinīvus
  11. Latinimperātīvus
  12. English todayimperative

Borrowed from Latin imperātīvus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.